Go-to-market, growth planning and launch resources

A go-to-market plan connects who you sell to, the message, the channels and the budget into one sequence with owners and dates. Use the 90-Day Growth Playbook to find what is working, commit to it in the Startup Marketing Plan workbook, and run launches from the Launch Plan Checklist.

Covers: GTM strategy, marketing plans, 90-day growth programs, product launches, growth loops, channel mix.

Learn the method

90-Day Growth Playbook — Audit the funnel, run focused experiments and turn winners into SOPs.
Product-Led Growth Playbook — Seven steps to product-led growth: find the activation moment, choose the free model, place the paywall and let usage decide who sales calls.
Product Launch Playbook — Pre-launch positioning, launch week coordination and post-launch optimisation. B2C version
Customer Segmentation Playbook — Segment by need and buying process, size and score the candidates, then choose one segment to win first. (from Strategy & Positioning)
Demand Gen & Performance Marketing Playbook — A focused channel mix and CAC-driven experiments across two or three channels. (from Paid Media)
Foundations Playbook — Positioning, ICP, a GTM plan and core analytics for early-stage teams. (from Strategy & Positioning) B2C version
Community & Dark Social Playbook — Eight steps for marketing where analytics can't see: find where buyers already talk, make thinking easy to forward, and measure by asking. (from Social, Community & Creators)
Earned Media Playbook — Eight steps for getting press without an agency: find a story only you can tell, pitch the right people, and make coverage work twice. (from PR, Partnerships & Events)
Founder-Led LinkedIn Playbook — Eight steps for founders who are their startup's only voice: what to post before proof, a cadence that lasts, and when to hand it on. (from Social, Community & Creators)
Partner Co-Marketing Playbook — Eight steps for co-marketing that pays both sides: choose partners by audience overlap, agree terms in writing and share leads with consent. (from PR, Partnerships & Events)
Franchise Marketing Playbook — Recruit the right franchisees and help every location win local customers, within FTC and state rules. (from Industry Playbooks)

Run the numbers

Bottom-Up Market Sizer — Size TAM, SAM and SOM from accounts you can count, with SOM set by capacity.
Launch Readiness Planner — Score whether you are ready to set a launch date, then build the dated work-back plan.
Marketing Decision Guides — Which channel first, which marketing hire, which tools now: a few questions each, then a clear answer and where to go next.
Growth Loop Calculator — Loop factor k for a referral, content or paid loop, how far it stretches every acquired user, effective CAC and the stage that caps the loop.
Marketing Leadership Cost Comparator — In-house, fractional or agency, costed on your own numbers including ramp and your hours. (from Marketing Ops, AI & Team)
SaaS Growth Efficiency Calculator — Magic number, burn multiple, Rule of 40 and CAC payback, each read against what its source actually wrote. (from Analytics, Experiments & Budget)
AI Free-Tier Cost Limit Calculator — The most tasks a free user can run each month, from your conversion rate, cost per task and margin per customer. (from Pricing & Monetization)
Beachhead Segment Scorer — Score candidate segments on pain, reach, budget, competition and proof, and see which to win first and whether the pick is settled. (from Strategy & Positioning)
Channel Test Budget Calculator — How much to spend, and for how long, before judging a channel, with a stop rule and which channel to test first. (from Paid Media)
Pilot-to-Contract Planner — Plan a pilot back from the buyer's budget date, check the success criteria and download a plan to sign. (from Sales & Pipeline)
Webinar Pipeline Planner — Work backwards from a pipeline target to the room a webinar actually needs. (from PR, Partnerships & Events)

Build it

The Diagnose, Design, Execute Email Course — Ten short lessons over three weeks, from the one number that matters to a plan you can measure.
The Campaign Brief — Decide the one number, the one audience and belief, and how you will judge the campaign - before any money is spent.
The Startup Marketing Plan — A 90-day plan workbook: funnel and unit economics, positioning, channel scorecard, roadmap and budget.
The Launch Plan Checklist — Set one date and 40 launch tasks schedule themselves, with a Go/No-Go gate.
The First Marketing Hire Kit — Role scorecard, paid take-home with rubric, interview questions tied to each competency, a first-90-days plan and an offer checklist. (from Marketing Ops, AI & Team)
The Segment Scorecard — Score up to eight segments on six weighted criteria, with evidence and confidence, and commit to the first market to win. (from Strategy & Positioning)
The Webinar Run-of-Show & Follow-Up Planner — Plan the session and the follow-up together: a dated countdown, a timed run-of-show, and three follow-up messages. (from PR, Partnerships & Events)
The Board Marketing Slide Pack — Twelve board slides that lead with the answer: the number against plan, what it cost, what you learned and what you need. (from Analytics, Experiments & Budget)

Run it with your AI agent

Campaign Orchestrator — Diagnose the problem and sequence the right skills through Diagnose, Design, Execute.
Market Sizing — Sizes TAM, SAM and SOM bottom-up, with SOM set by capacity rather than a share of the market.
ABM Program Design — Checks whether the team can run the account list, and whether the list hits the number.
GTM Plan for Investors — Builds the GTM story an investor can check, from engine-run numbers.
Marketing Loops — Model a compounding growth loop and find the stage throttling it.
Sales-Led vs Self-Serve — Chooses self-serve, sales-led or a mix from the buyer and the unit economics, not from fashion.
Product Launch — Tiers a launch, scores readiness on a twelve-item gate, and builds the dated work-back plan.
Customer Interview Synthesis — Turns coded interview notes into ranked patterns and anecdotes, and says whether you can stop interviewing. (from Audience & Customer Research)
Marketing Leadership Model — Prices in-house, fractional and agency with ramp, search time and your own hours, and says which shape fits. (from Marketing Ops, AI & Team)
Marketing Maturity Assessment — Scores marketing as a system across six dimensions, and names the weak links to fix first for your stage. (from Marketing Ops, AI & Team)
PLG Upgrade Prompts — Reads each upgrade prompt's funnel with honest intervals and names the prompt and stage to fix first. (from Pricing & Monetization)
SaaS Growth Efficiency — Magic number, burn multiple, Rule of 40 and CAC payback, each read against its source's own words. (from Analytics, Experiments & Budget)
Search Demand Reader — Reads a Search Console Queries export by intent and topic, and names the demand you already appear for but do not yet win. (from Content, Copy & SEO)
Beachhead Segment Selection — Picks the segment to win first from evidence, and says when the pick is still a guess. (from Strategy & Positioning)
Channel Selection & Testing — Says how much to spend, and for how long, before judging a channel - and when to stop early. (from Paid Media)
Developer Marketing — Treats docs and the first working call as the marketing, and measures it. (from Content, Copy & SEO)
First Marketing Hire — Scores the panel's evidence against the role's must-haves and calls hire, no-hire or more evidence. (from Marketing Ops, AI & Team)
Lead Magnet & Free Tool Design — Scores lead-magnet and free-tool ideas on the job they do against build effort, and judges live ones on qualified leads. (from Website & Conversion)
Pilot to Contract — A pilot plan worked back from the budget date, with a criteria check and the top three fixes. (from Sales & Pipeline)
Product Demo Strategy — Picks the demo format for each buying stage and keeps AI demos honest. (from Website & Conversion)
Referral Program Design — Designs who to ask and what to reward, then prices referral against the CAC it replaces. (from Retention, Expansion & Advocacy)
Partnerships & Co-Marketing — Score partners on overlap rather than fame, write the terms, judge it on pipeline. (from PR, Partnerships & Events)
PR & Earned Media — Score the story before you pitch it, then aim it at twenty of the right people. (from PR, Partnerships & Events)
Webinar & Event Programs — Sizes a webinar backwards from the pipeline it must create, and judges it on meetings and pipeline against cost. (from PR, Partnerships & Events)

Read the research

Demand Creation vs. Demand Capture: What Each Does and How to Rebalance
Free Trial, Freemium or Demo? — Choose your entry model by time to value and purchase complexity, with evidence from four IPO filings.
Go-to-Market Strategy Examples: 10 B2B Startup Launches Analyzed
How to Build a B2B Go-to-Market Strategy from Scratch: A Founder's Playbook
International Expansion for SaaS Startups: How to Choose and Enter Your First Foreign Market — Five steps to a first foreign market: readiness, compare the rules, one country in phases, localize, local partners.
Marketing Planning Cadence and OKRs: A Simple System for Startups — Five steps to a planning rhythm: four clocks, work back from the goal, shared OKRs, guardrails, weekly checks.
Marketing Strategy for Startups: A Four-Layer Framework for Founders
Marketing Strategy Roadmap: A One-Page Plan for a New Business
Omnichannel Marketing for Startups: When It Pays and How to Start
Which marketing channels should a startup start with? — Start where your first segment already looks, pick channels whose cost fits your deal size, and test one or two against a pass mark you set in advance.
How to Launch on Product Hunt Without Wasting the Day — Five steps to launch on Product Hunt: decide what it is for, launch something usable, prepare, never ask for upvotes, follow up.
How to Market a Two-Sided Marketplace: Solving the Chicken-and-Egg Problem — Five steps to start a marketplace: the loop, the harder side first, one dense place, liquidity, both sides as marketers.
Product Launch Checklist for Startups: 15 Things Teams Forget
The AAJ Benchmark Library — Every benchmark AAJ publishes, with its primary source, sample size and the date it was last verified. (from Analytics, Experiments & Budget)
How to Build a Marketing System That Runs Without You (from Marketing Ops, AI & Team)
The B2B Buying Committee: How to Market to Everyone Who Signs Off — Five steps to market to a B2B buying group: map roles, buying jobs, one shared story, the champion's kit, wider groups. (from Sales & Pipeline)
Cold Email for Founders: How to Write a Sequence That Gets Replies — Four steps to cold email that gets replies: a named list, one-pain emails, 4 to 6 touches, CAN-SPAM and inbox rules. (from Sales & Pipeline)
Conferences and Trade Shows for Startups: Which Events Are Worth It? — Five steps to pick and work events: one job per event, who is in the room, cheapest way to show up, attract-contact-convert, follow up. (from PR, Partnerships & Events)
How to run a webinar that creates pipeline, not just registrants — Most startup webinars fill a registration list and stop there. How to pick the job, the topic and the format, and why the follow-up is the real event. (from PR, Partnerships & Events)
Integration Marketplaces: How to Market Your App Where Your Customers' Software Lives — Five steps to market an app on integration marketplaces: pick the platform, read the guide, sell in the listing, work the channel, manage dependence. (from PR, Partnerships & Events)
Lifetime Deals and AppSumo for B2B SaaS — The real math of a lifetime deal: what it brings in, what it costs to serve, AppSumo's published terms and how to cap the damage. (from Pricing & Monetization)
Retention Is a Marketing Job Too — Marketing's job after the sale: sell to customers who succeed, teach them to a first result, make value visible to whoever renews, and offer expansion only when behaviour asks for it. (from Retention, Expansion & Advocacy)
SMS and WhatsApp Marketing for Startups — When SMS and WhatsApp fit a startup, how to collect consent in four markets, what to send and how to measure it. (from Retention, Expansion & Advocacy)
The EdTech Marketing Calendar — When districts plan, budget and buy, season by season, with the main conferences. (from Industry Playbooks)

Work with AAJ

GTM & Pipeline Launch